(a) Field
Exemplary embodiments of the invention relates to a display device and a driving method thereof. More particularly, the invention relates to a display device with improved visibility, and a driving method thereof.
(b) Description of the Related Art
A display device, such as a liquid crystal display (“LCD”) and an organic light emitting diode (“OLED”) display, generally includes a display panel including a plurality of pixels including a switching element and a plurality of signal lines, a gray voltage generator that generates a gray reference voltage, and a data driver that generates a plurality of gray voltages using the gray reference voltage and applies the gray voltage corresponding to an input image signal among the generated gray voltages as a data signal to a data line.
The LCD typically includes two display panels having a pixel electrode and an opposing electrode, and a liquid crystal layer having dielectric anisotropy and interposed therebetween. The pixel electrode is arranged in a matrix form and is connected to a switching element such as a thin film transistor (“TFT”) to sequentially receive the data voltage row by row. The opposing electrode is disposed through substantially the entire surface of the display panel and receives a common voltage. The pixel electrode and the opposing electrode are applied with the voltages to generate an electric field in the liquid crystal layer such that the intensity of the electric field is controlled and transmittance of light passing through the liquid crystal layer is controlled, thereby obtaining a desired image.
In the LCD, lateral visibility may be lower than frontal visibility. Accordingly, it has been proposed that one pixel should be bisected into two sub-pixels, while different voltages are applied thereto. When one pixel is divided into two subpixels, an area of an opening for passing the light is decreased such that the transmittance may be deteriorated.